Price information, complaints and data protection

We conduct business on the terms set out below. 

1. Work is charged on a time spent basis at the hourly charging rate of the person concerned. This will include time spent in meetings with you and others, considering documents, telephone calls, writing letters/e-mails and in doing other things necessary to provide you with the advice and representation required. The charging rate for the person dealing with your matter is set out below.  

2. Where an indication of charges is given in advance, it is an estimate and is approximate only and exclusive of VAT and disbursements. Disbursements are sums which have to be paid for things like Counsel’s fees and obtaining a medical report should one be needed. VAT is payable on fees and disbursements at the rate of 20%.

3. We normally render accounts on a monthly basis or on completion of the work if that is sooner. Payment is due within 14 days of the date of invoice.

4. Disbursements are payable by you directly as they arise. We will discuss any likely disbursements at the outset - for example, if a medical report may be needed. A medical report might typically cost around £230 plus VAT but the amount would depend on the complexity of the case. We would obtain a quote for your approval before any costs were incurred.

5. Interest will be charged at the judgment rate (currently 8% per annum) on all sums remaining unpaid one month after the delivery of a bill.

6. We reserve the right to cease work on any or all of your matters forthwith on giving written notice if any invoice or disbursement is not paid by the due date. 

Name                                   Status                         Current Hourly Charging Rate

Sean Stanton-Dunne        Principal                                  £150 Plus VAT

Sean Stanton-Dunne qualified as a Solicitor in 1991 and has specialised in employment law for over 25 years.

9. There are different stages in bringing and defending a claim. There will be an initial assessment of documents with an advice on prospects of success. This may be followed by correspondence and negotiations with the other side to see if there is any possibility of a settlement before proceedings are issued. If proceedings are issued, there will be significant work in preparing the claim or defence. Once proceedings are issued and the defence entered, the Tribunal will issue directions for the conduct of the proceedings through to the hearing. The 5 key areas of work after the issue of proceedings are (i) the process of reviewing and exchanging documents with the other side resulting in the preparation of a common bundle of documents for use at the hearing (ii) the preparation of witness statements which involves interviewing witnesses and drafting their statements (iii) preparing for the hearing which involves reviewing the witness statements from the other side, preparing cross examination and carrying out necessary legal research (iv) attending at the hearing to present or defend the claim and (v) attempting to negotiate and conclude a settlement to avoid the need for the final hearing.

10. The costs involved in conducting or defending a claim will vary from case to case. The most important factors affecting costs are likely to be the volume of documents involved, the number of witnesses to be called and the complexity of the issues. A one day case for unfair and wrongful dismissal involving a single file of documents and the calling of 2 to 3 witnesses could easily involve total costs of around £8,000 plus VAT which might typically break down along these lines:

• Initial review and advice: 4 hours

• Pre-claim correspondence/negotiations: 5 hours

• Preparing claim/defence: 5 hours

• Work on documents including preparation of bundle for hearing: 8 hours

• Interviewing witnesses and drafting statements: 10 hours

• Ongoing settlement discussions: 5hours

• Preparation for the hearing: 10 hours

• Attendance at the hearing: 6 hours

11. The breakdown given for the one day hearing is a broad estimate. A claim involving minimal documentation with no legal complexity is likely to cost less. A document heavy claim with complex issues and several witnesses could cost more. We will be able to give you an assessment of likely costs when we have seen the documentation relating to your claim. We will give you a broad estimate at the outset. To give you certainty, we can agree a ceiling on costs based upon our estimate of the likely costs involved. To give a broad picture of the lower and upper end for costs for the one day hearing, they would be unlikely to be less than £3,500 plus VAT and unlikely to be more than £9,500 plus VAT. The complexity of a claim and the time involved will be significantly increased if there is a complaint of unlawful discrimination included with the claim of unfair and wrongful dismissal. If there is a complaint of unlawful discrimination included, then the upper end of £9,500 plus VAT may well be a realistic expectation.

12. Where additional hearing days are involved, the additional days are likely to involve a charge of £900 per day plus VAT. That is based upon a full day’s hearing with any necessary preparation and capped at 6 hours of work. 

13. The guide on likely costs given above assumes that the actual representation in the Employment Tribunal will be carried out by Sean Stanton-Dunne. If a barrister was instructed for the hearing, then our costs would reduce by the projected amount of time for hearing preparation and attendance (around 16 hours in the typical breakdown given in paragraph 10 for a one day hearing). There would, however, then be the disbursement of the barrister's fees. Those fees would be negotiated with the barrister and you would have to pay the fees in advance of the hearing. You should reasonably expect a fee for a barrister of 8 to 10 years' call for preparation and attendance at a one day Tribunal hearing to be in the region of £3,500 plus VAT. For a 2 day hearing, you should reasonably expect a fee in the region of £5,250 plus VAT with a refresher fee in the region of £1,750 plus VAT for additional days. We will discuss with you the question of who will provide the representation in the Employment Tribunal and the likely fees for a barrister to be used.

14. You may have legal insurance cover under the terms of your household insurance policy which covers your legal costs in bringing a claim in the Employment Tribunal. We will ask you at the outset to check to see if you do have such cover. If you do have insurance cover, then you will need to contact your insurer to discuss the operation of the cover.

15. It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty how long a claim is likely to last from when the claim is lodged with the Tribunal to the date of hearing. This will depend on which Tribunal is handling the claim as different Tribunals have different caseloads. It will also depend on the length of time which is needed for the hearing. A one day claim will come to hearing more quickly than a claim which is listed for a hearing of 2 days or more. Some claims require a preliminary hearing to decide on a specific issue before the claim can go forward to a full hearing and this will obviously result in an increased timeframe. There might, for example, be a preliminary hearing to decide if a claimant has the necessary length of service to make a complaint. A realistic expectation for how long it will take to bring a claim to a full hearing is not less than 4 to 6 months and not more than 12 months. That is, however, a very broad guide. We will be able to give you a more accurate projection when we have assessed your claim and when we know which Tribunal the claim will be heard in.

16. Charges for non-contentious employment law work will vary depending upon the complexity of the work and the time involved. Advising employees leaving employment on the terms of a Settlement Agreement will normally involve in the region of 3 to 5 hours of work with a charge of between £450 plus VAT and £750 plus VAT based on the hourly charge out rate of £150 plus VAT. Employers will often contribute to the employee's costs for advice on a Settlement Agreement but you would be responsible for any costs not paid for by the employer. To prepare a Settlement Agreement for an employer will normally involve a charge in the same range of £450 plus VAT to £750 plus VAT. Preparing a contract of employment for an employer will normally involve in the region of 4 to 6 hours of work with a charge of between £600 plus VAT and £900 plus VAT. Preparation of a Handbook in addition to a contract will normally involve further time of 3 to 4 hours of work with an additional charge of between £450 plus VAT and £600 plus VAT. Reviewing a contract of employment for an employee will normally involve in the region of 2.5 to 3.5 hours of work with a charge of between £375 plus VAT and £525 plus VAT. Before undertaking any work, we will give you an estimate of the likely time and costs involved. To give you certainty, we can agree a ceiling on costs based upon our estimate of the time involved for carrying out the work.

17. If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service including any invoice which you receive from us, the Firm operates a Complaints Handling Procedure and in this regard you should contact Sean Stanton-Dunne. Any complaint should be notified in writing to Mr Stanton-Dunne and he will respond to it within 10 working days of receipt or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter. You are entitled on request to a copy of the Firm’s Complaints Handling Procedure. If you remain dissatisfied, you can contact the Consumer Complaints Service at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.  You can also have your complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman.  The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.  The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern.  You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ, telephone 0300 555 0333, email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk, website www.legalombudsman.org.uk. There may also be a right to object to a bill from the Firm by applying to the Court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 although, if any such right is exercised, it will preclude a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and, if all or part of a bill remains unpaid, the Firm may be entitled to charge interest. 

18. Stanton-Dunne & Co has an identification number with the Solicitors Regulation Authority which is 400 316. 

19. You can decide, if you wish, to cancel your agreement with the Firm at any time. This can be done by notifying the Firm in writing by e-mail or post that you wish to cancel the agreement. If you do this, you will be liable to pay our charges for all work carried out up to the date of cancellation and you will also be liable for any outstanding disbursements. Where a fixed fee has been agreed for work to be carried out, you will be liable for the actual costs incurred to the date of cancellation of the agreement provided that these shall not exceed the amount of the fixed fee.  

20. Stanton-Dunne & Co has professional indemnity insurance cover in England and Wales with HDI Global Speciality SE-UK whose contact address is 10 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 3BE. Stanton-Dunne & Co is registered for VAT, registration number 835 8662 90.

This Data Protection Policy explains what is meant by personal data, the reasons why we need to obtain and use your personal data and your rights in relation to your personal data held by us, including the right of access.

Personal data will be stored by us for as long as may be required for the purposes for which it is processed. This will be for as long as we act for you or use you as a supplier and then for as long as may be necessary in connection with any legal limitation period. We will monitor data held to ensure its secure deletion and destruction when it is no longer required.

You have the right to access personal data and to be provided, without undue delay, with a copy of your personal data which is being processed unless there is an exemption meaning that particular data is not required to be disclosed. Where a copy of personal data is requested, this will be provided free of charge unless the request is excessive. This will normally be provided within a month of the request being received although a longer period may be needed if the request is complex.

If any data about you is inaccurate, you have the right to obtain rectification without undue delay.

You have the right to obtain erasure of your personal data without undue delay in certain circumstances. Examples are where the data is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was processed or where you object to processing and we do not have overriding legitimate grounds for the processing. We may also be able to insist on retaining data for compliance with a legal obligation or in connection with legal claims or for other permitted purposes such as archiving purposes in the public interest.

You have the right to obtain restriction of the processing of personal data in certain situations. One example is while we verify the accuracy of data where you have contested this. Another is while we verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds for processing where you have objected to the processing of data. Restriction means that processing is restricted to storage except where you consent to any other processing or it is in connection with legal claims.

Where personal data has been processed based on your consent (in the case of a special category of personal data) or based on the performance of a contract with you and the processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive that data in a structured and machine readable format and to have the data transmitted to another data controller.

You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to the processing of your personal data. We will, however, be permitted to continue processing the data if we show overriding legitimate grounds for the processing or the processing is necessary in connection with legal claims.

We do not seek or rely upon your consent when processing ordinary personal data. If, in the case of processing a special category of personal data, we have obtained an explicit consent to the processing, then you may withdraw that consent at any time by written notification to us.

Our Data Protection Officer is the Principal, Sean Stanton-Dunne. The Data Protection Officer is responsible for managing the effective implementation and operation of the Data Protection Policy. If you have any questions about the Policy or your rights under the Policy, then you should address these to the Data Protection Officer.